The 2009-2010 NHL Season: General News & Discussion Thread

[silent_jay]

Leafs win in the shoot out. I have an idea though, rather than complain about the condition of the ice before the shoot out, just get rid of it all together.

[Leto]

so last night was a big night in the league, prior to American Thanksgiving I guess. OVechkin lays on a hard check and gets ejected! (Ovechkin drew a major for boarding and a game misconduct 3:38 into the third period when he ran Buffalo's Patrick Kaleta into the boards with his shoulder opposite the benches. tsn)

YouTube - Alex Ovechkin Gets Boarding Call on Kaleta 11/25/2009

YouTube - Alex Ovechkin Gets Boarding Call on Kaleta 11/25/2009

Washington still goes on to win (beating Buffalo is good for Toronto!)

Meanwhile Toronto wins over Tampa, getting 5 out of 6 points for their last 3 games. Not bad for a 'bad' team eh? Who thinks that Toskala will ever play for the Leafs again?


By the way, I was at a cocktail function at the Hockey Hall of Fame last night (Toronto). As I wandered around the place, spicy Caesar in hand, I took a couple of shots of the sweaters of my favourite players from the past:

[IdeoFunk]

Hey Letz, glad to see the Leafs O work their magic tonight on my immaculate Sabres.... although I must say I am jealous you got to go to the Hall of Fame.

[Leto]

Nice game eh? I just may just come out of the closet and proclaim my fan-ship to the Sabres. Miller is awesome. One of many hot goalies that the Leafs have peppered with shots in the last few games, with little success. Did you see how Miller gave his stick to the Toronto Star photog that got the puck in the face? Class act.

I tried to find a video of that, but instead found an interesting one (less of a class act) of Lindy Ruff getting a stick in the eye, compliments of Billy Smith circa 1980:

YouTube - Billy Smith highsticks Lindy Ruff in the eye

YouTube - Billy Smith highsticks Lindy Ruff in the eye

While on the topic of less than a class act, Ovechkin continues to dazzle and dismay. Looks like he will be ejected (5 games maybe?) for a Knee on knee in Carolina last night. Was he really injured? Or did he play it up realizing how badly obvious he was?

YouTube - Alex Ovechkin's Knee on Knee Injury With Tim Gleason (HD) (November 30 09)

YouTube - Alex Ovechkin's Knee on Knee Injury With Tim Gleason (HD) (November 30 09)

OH ya, and while we are on the topic, this really tops the entertainment from last night. Ballard wacks his own goalie:

YouTube- Keith Ballard Injures His Own Goalie

YouTube- Keith Ballard Injures His Own Goalie

[silent_jay]

His name isn't Georges Laraque Ovechkin will get 1 game if anything.

Compare the two, which one is worse?

YouTube- Georges Laraque knee hit to Kronwall (HNIC)

YouTube- Georges Laraque knee hit to Kronwall (HNIC)

[Leto]

Well, he arleady got kicked out of last night's game. I expect more than one additional game for Alex.

[BulletCatcher]

Not to mention it's his second game misconduct penalty in just the last week. The league has a real dilemma on it's hands with this one. My guess is an official 1 game suspension followed by an unofficial 4 - 5 game 'injury'.

Edit - Guess I should have checked before I posted. Looks like he got 2 games and is day to day with his knee.

[silent_jay]

Of course Laraque gets 5 Ovechkin gets 2, fuckin NHL and their double standards for suspensions, it's pathetic.

Let me guess Laraque got more games because of his reputation, I call bullshit on that excuse as well, his reputation is he's a fighter, and a good one at that, Ovechkin's reputation is he's a damn good player, but he's increasingly becoming a dirty prick who's going to get his someday and I won't feel bad about it in the least. Especially when he makes statements like this:

Originally Posted by Ovechkin

"I regret that this has happened," Ovechkin said in a statement. "I'm glad that Tim wasn't injured because I never ever want to see anyone get hurt. I am disappointed to miss these games and I can't wait to get back on the ice next week to help my team."

Regrets it happened? Watch the video his knee was sticking out, Gleason changed lanes yes, but jesus he had time to pull that knee in, but he didn't, pathetic NHL truly pathetic.

Edit: Boudreau making sstatements like this makes him look stupid:

"Alex is trying to hit him," Boudreau said. "Gleason makes a pretty good move to the inside, and as he's moving, his leg comes out and he hits him."

Asked if Ovechkin stuck his stick out, Boudreau said, "It looked like he leaned with his shoulder."

Ovechkin has know been given two game misconducts in the last three games.

"I think if Gleason would have got up, I think it would have been a two-minute penalty," Boudreau said.

Leaned with his shoulder? Was his fat covering his eyes. His leg never came out when Gleason changed lanes, his knee was out from the beginning, maybe Boudreau should watch a replay. Boudreau needs to be punched in the neck that fat bastard.

Tell me that is leaning with his shoulder.

[IdeoFunk]

It's been weird how many kneeings there have been so far this season, reminds me of when Rick Tocchet used to play haha

Originally Posted by Leto

Nice game eh? I just may just come out of the closet and proclaim my fan-ship to the Sabres. Miller is awesome. One of many hot goalies that the Leafs have peppered with shots in the last few games, with little success. Did you see how Miller gave his stick to the Toronto Star photog that got the puck in the face? Class act.

I tried to find a video of that, but instead found an interesting one (less of a class act) of Lindy Ruff getting a stick in the eye, compliments of Billy Smith circa 1980:

YouTube - Billy Smith highsticks Lindy Ruff in the eye


While on the topic of less than a class act, Ovechkin continues to dazzle and dismay. Looks like he will be ejected (5 games maybe?) for a Knee on knee in Carolina last night. Was he really injured? Or did he play it up realizing how badly obvious he was?


YouTube - Alex Ovechkin's Knee on Knee Injury With Tim Gleason (HD) (November 30 09)




OH ya, and while we are on the topic, this really tops the entertainment from last night. Ballard wacks his own goalie:

YouTube- Keith Ballard Injures His Own Goalie

Add that video to the list of reasons why I love Ruff... and kudos for Buffalo keeping him around for I believe over a decade now. Here's to hoping him and Babcock will be a great tandem come the olympics.

Anyone catch the game tonight? What was up with Gustavsson? Does he actually have a heart condition? Hopefully he turns out alright, more goal-tending injuries are the last thing the Leafs need.

[silent_jay]

For the second time in less than three months, Jonas Gustavsson has been forced to seek emergency medical attention for his heart.

Anyway you cut it, that's scary stuff, a situation that no pro sports team dares trifle with.

So as soon as Maple Leafs head coach Ron Wilson heard that the prize rookie goaltender's heart was racing after playing an outstanding first period Tuesday night against the Montreal Canadiens, he didn't wait to find out if Gustavsson could continue.

"I'm not going to be responsible for someone keeling over during a game," said Wilson after the Leafs' hard-earned 3-0 triumph. "The game's not that important."

Even though the Swedish rookie's heart rate slowed on its own during the first intermission, the Leafs decided to have Gustavsson taken to Montreal General Hospital after stopping eight first-period shots. He was released shortly after the game ended, and will fly home Wednesday and consult a Toronto-area cardiologist.

Back in September, Gustavsson collapsed on the first day of training camp and ultimately underwent a procedure known as an ablation to deal with his elevated heart rate. This latest episode has to be worrisome, particularly since the hockey world has seen two young players die of heart-related issues in the past five years.

Former NHLer Sergei Zholtok died in November 2004 while playing in Latvia after being examined for an irregular heart rate 10 months earlier.

In October 2008, New York Rangers first-round draft pick Alexei Cherepanov collapsed and died of heart failure while playing in a Kontinental Hockey League game.

Gustavsson, playing on back-to-back nights for the second time this season, was outstanding early in the game when, on a Montreal power play, he stared down a furious barrage, stopping six shots. After he was replaced, Joey MacDonald came in and blocked 18 shots without error to give the Leafs their first shared shutout since Glenn Healy and Marcel Cousineau turned the trick in San Jose during the 1997-98 season.

"I came into the room and he wasn't sitting there," said MacDonald, whose locker in the Bell Centre was immediately beside Gustavsson's. "I couldn't find him, so I started doing a little stretching on my own."

Other Leaf players said they didn't know what had happened to Gustavsson until after the game.

"You assume it's his groin or something else," said Jamal Mayers. "Not that."

Leaf veteran Vesa Toskala is expected to be back from injury later this week, possibly as early as Thursday against Columbus.

Gustavsson was credited with the win, but MacDonald was strong in long relief.

"I thought we played great, doing all the right things in the defensive zone," said MacDonald.

Wilson, interestingly, didn't have an answer when asked which of his players would have come in as a goalie had MacDonald been injured and left unable to continue.

"Not me," joked Mayers. "It would be a rookie, for sure."

The Habs feted the Grey Cup champion Montreal Alouettes before the game and the Als received a thunderous standing ovation.

That hometown emotion appeared to carry over into the early part of the game, and when Leaf forward Wayne Primeau was sent off for boarding just before the five-minute mark, the Habs controlled the puck for most of the following two minutes but couldn't beat Gustavsson. Less than three minutes later, Colton Orr scored his first goal as a Leaf, giving the visitors a rare chance to play with an early lead.

This time, they didn't surrender that margin but built on it to come up with their fourth win in the past six games. But the story afterwards was Gustavsson and the uncertainty over his immediate future.

"We're not sure what this event was," admitted Wilson.

Frightening, really. Solid answers should be forthcoming before the Leafs even think about putting The Monster between the pipes again.

Bold added by me, christ just what we don't need Toskala back in nets, they should really trade him for a bag of pucks and a bundle of sticks.

[Leto]

I really thought that when Toskala pulled himself out of that game, that that would have been the last we saw of him. I say let MacDonald develop in goal. He's game, and we can't do worse than lose some more.

[silent_jay]

Exactly Leto, I'd rather lose with a young goalie, who wil lat least get better as time goes on, than lose with a pylon in nets like Toskala, as I said before, the guy isn't and never was a starting goalie, if it wasn't for expansion he'd be flipping burgers in Finland.

[Leto]

Reindeer burgers. mmmmmm........

[silent_jay]

Wow, what a horrible start against the Bruins tonight.

I just got reminded that Chara won the Norris last year, what the fuck were the people who pick the winners thinking? Other than being big the guy is a useless tit, he has the lateral movement of a Mack Truck, and skates like a pregnant cow, for his size he's weak on his skates, all around not a Norris winner in my opinion.

[Leto]

and a horrible finish. But Boston got routed the night before. The season is long and things tend to even out. But for things to even out for the Leafs, the season needs to be a couple of months longer this year! OH, yes, and better players would be nice.

So Montreal celebrated 100 years with an amazing pre-game show on Friday. Check out the hockey royalty in the warmup:

YouTube - Montreal Canadiens 100th Anniversary Part 1

YouTube - Montreal Canadiens 100th Anniversary Part 1

And this promo:

YouTube- Montreal Canadiens 100th Anniversary Commercial

YouTube- Montreal Canadiens 100th Anniversary Commercial

[woody18228]

My Blackhawks just keep on rolling, I went to the game tuesday and saw an 11 round shootout, it was crazy!! They seem to be really coming together and now have signed Toews, Kane, and Duncan Keith to extensions....so they'll be around for a while.

I don't have a good enough knowledge to really compare them to the other great teams, but where do others think the hawks rank?

[silent_jay]

Looks like we got another suspension this weekend Carcillo gets four games for sucker punching Bradley, now as much as I liked the punch, it was pretty dumb, mind you I bet Bradley thinks twice before playing tough guy again, I mean christ how long does it take the kid to get his gloves off? I'm torn on this one I think four is a little much, especially when Ovechkin only get's two for throwing the knee which is just a dirty play.

YouTube - Dan Carcillo Punches Matt Bradley in the Face & KO's him 12/5/2009

YouTube - Dan Carcillo Punches Matt Bradley in the Face & KO's him 12/5/2009

Then we get Duncan Keith giving Matt Cooke a head shot, now will Keith get suspended? I'm going to say no, but if he doesn't it's just another bullshit call on the leagues 'disciplinarians', and I use the term very loosely when referringto Colin Campbell and his lot.

YouTube - Duncan Keith's Head Shot On Matt Cooke (12-5-2009)

YouTube - Duncan Keith's Head Shot On Matt Cooke (12-5-2009)

I don't have a good enough knowledge to really compare them to the other great teams, but where do others think the hawks rank?

The Hawks are good, but they're going to have to deal someone to make room under the cap for all their new signings, they'll be around for a while, but how healthy they'll be and how well they play remains to be seen, that's the bad thing about long contracts, you could get a Rick DiPietro on your hands.

[BulletCatcher]

Well that was ugly. Just finished watching the St Louis - Edmonton game and I have to say that was probably the worst 3rd period in the history of hockey. I'm almost ashamed to call myself a Blues fan after that.

[silent_jay]

Holy fuckin Toskala, that pylon, Leafs have a solid first against the Oilers and that pylon let`s in a fluff goal in the last minute of the period.

In unrelated Spengler Cup new, Canada loses to Minsk and won`t be in the finals, they played a couple of good games, but their goaltending was weak compared to the rest of the players. I always enjoy the Spengler, get to see solme good Canadian hockey players you don`t always see, I used to paly against Shawn Heins when I was in Jr. B, good to see him playing for Canada again.

[BulletCatcher]

Wow, thought this thread had died .

I missed the Winter Classic yesterday but from everything I've seen and heard so far it sounds as though it was another good one. Would have been interesting to see what would have happened had it rained like it was forcasted. Would they really have called the game after 2 periods?

The Olympic rosters for Canada and the US have been announced finally. No real surprises for Canada and has to be considered the favorites going into Vancouver. Not sure I agree with the US decision to focus on the youth. Only two players over the age of 34 amd an overall average age of 26. I guess if anything they will be fun to watch though I am a bit disappointed TJ Oshie didn't make the squad.

Lastly, the Blues fired Andy Murray this morning. Not sure if I agree with this. Rumors have been swirling for awhile that it was coming but I see it as a case of it's easier to fire a coach than to get rid of several players. Word has it the older vets loved him and backed him but the young guns stopped listning awhile back which is stupid if true. Did they learn nothing during their second half run last year? Play the system and you'll be sucessful. Sounds like some of the younger players started buying into their own hype and need to grow up.

[silent_jay]

Originally Posted by BulletCatcher

Wow, thought this thread had died .

It will never die as long as the Leafs have Toskala to bitch about haha.

The Olympic rosters for Canada and the US have been announced finally. No real surprises for Canada and has to be considered the favorites going into Vancouver.

A couple of surprises for Canada, at least surprises to me, no Phaneuf, no Green, no Bouwmeester, even Richards not making it surprised me.

[Leto]

but potentially Bergeron is out??? He sustained a hand injury in the Boston / New York game last night. He's out 4 to 6 weeks.

[Martian]

There's no arguing that my dead grandmother is a better goalie than Toskala. At the same time, I don't think the Leafs can pin all their woes on him.

I thought we were looking at a rally in early December, but then they lost it again.

Oh, well. Back to the unofficial Leaf's motto: there's always next season.

[silent_jay]

Originally Posted by Martian

There's no arguing that my dead grandmother is a better goalie than Toskala. At the same time, I don't think the Leafs can pin all their woes on him.

Agreed, one player doesn't make or break a team, the Leafs as a whole are just a heartless hockey team, they have nothing deep down, they're just a surface team.

[silent_jay]

Well it's been an interesting couple of days on the discipline front, first you got the Burrows/Auger situation, then you got the Gonchar hit on Clutterbuck.
First the Gonchar hit:

YouTube - gonchar hits clutterbuck

YouTube - gonchar hits clutterbuck

It seems Campbell likes to talk a lot about getting rid of headshots from the game, yet when an obvious one takes place like this hit, he says this:

"Every 5-minute major is not a suspension or a fine. There's gotta be a little bit of passion in the game.

"Cal Clutterbuck leads the League, or is close to leading the League, in hits. He hit Gonchar very hard into the boards prior to that -- real hard. That could have been boarding. Could have been charging. It wasn't. So Gonchar, who's been hurt before and knocked out before and suffered a concussion; he's on the receiving end more than he's on the giving end -- I don't think he's ever been on the giving end -- he went in and it was a 5-minute interference penalty and he hit him with his shoulder.

"We felt the penalty was the penalty. We don't feel [based on] past history that Gonchar deserved to be suspended. Clutterbuck came out and I thought his statement was ridiculous, that somebody's going to ‘get this guy'. Last time I looked, Sergei Gonchar wasn't on too many guys hit lists."

Past history has to stop being a measuring point for if someone is suspeneded or not, Campbell better stop drinking while deciding these things, because he's making himself look stupid.

Then on to the Burrows/Auger situation, I really don't thik they handled this well, he basically took whatever Auger said as gospel and blamed the whole thing on Burrows. To see those penalties called kind of makes me wonder if Auger did in fact say that to Burrows, I know refs hold grudges, and those calls were both grudge calls in my opinion, here's part of Campbell on the NHL.com radio show

NHL Senior Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell was a guest on the NHL Live! radio show Thursday, addressing the recent fine of Vancouver's Alex Burrows for comments about NHL referee Stephane Auger officiating of Monday's game between the Nashville Predators and the Canucks. Here is an edited transcript of Campbell's conservation with hosts E.J. Hradek and Deb Placey.

E.J. Hradek: Did Burrows back off a little bit when he talked to you? Because after a game, the guy is worked up, so did he back off on his comments at all?

COLIN CAMPBELL: He didn't back off on what he said, but he did say that the conversation that Stephane did was in French. I asked Alex if Stephane said to him that he was going to get you. Alex Burrows said it was something like that in French because the conversation took place in French, so that's the first step. Our referee, Stephane Auger, said there was no chance that he said or indicated that it was pay back or whatever you want to say. Alex told Stephane that it's not something to address before the game because, as you see now, it could be used against you if the team doesn't like the calls.

We have this kind of banter all the time. I don't think our League, our players or coaches won't have to say you can't talk to referees, but Stephane was just saying to Alex Burrows before the game -- 'Look, from the previous game, where I assessed the major to the Nashville player, it was based on the fact you were injured and the game misconduct was rescinded, but I watched the video and it didn't look like you were injured. And he said to Alex I don't need you to help me in that context, I was calling a penalty. I didn't need you to help me assess a major, but when you went down like that I don't need that kind of help and I don't appreciate you embellishing plays like that in the future and that was the extent of it.

Deb Placey: I'm so pleased you came on because it sounds like it makes a lot of sense that it was a conversation where one side said something that was a phrase or way of talking and the other side may have misinterpreted it?

COLIN CAMPBELL: I understand very little French, but what's said in one language might be, when interpreted in English, might mean something else. Unless you can get a neutral third party to substantiate these things, it can be tough. If you get into a Rangers-Jersey series, a Philly-Pittsburgh series, it gets pretty passionate, there's a lot of money at stake.

Coaches hate coaches, owners dislike owners and fans are against each other. If someone issues a code or something to the effect, 'He said this about me,' do we then throw that other player into an investigation, throw him off his game. You have to be careful and measure everything in these situations. I don't want to throw either individual under the bus to question his integrity and, first and foremost, our referee works for us. He's worked for 10 years (Auger) and we hold him to a high standard. We've watched his work every single night, so it's not something we take lightly.

NHL's Campbell talks about Burrows fine - NHL.com - News

EDIT, just saw this on TSN, how is that not third man in on Bradley? Ovechkin clearly dropped his gloves as did Downie, Bradley should have been suspended for third man in.

YouTube- Alex Ovechkin and Steve Downie drop gloves to fight and Matt Bradley backs him up(High Quality)

YouTube- Alex Ovechkin and Steve Downie drop gloves to fight and Matt Bradley backs him up(High Quality)

[Leto]

just looked at that last posting Jay... Clearly Bradley should have been suspended. he skated the length of the ice to get at Downie. Plus we were robbed of a good tilt between Ovechkin & Downie.


SO..... some big trades in the NHL yesterday. Calgary gets some quality players from an Eastern Division team to bolster their firepower (Matt Stajan, Hagman, Mayers & Ian White) and Annaheim pulls the trigger sending their backup goalie (Giguere) to Toronto for Toskala and Blake.

Lots of traffic (oh ya, Toronto also got Phaneuf - a Brian McCabe redux?) over the past 24 hours. think it will make a difference to a team that can lose a 3-0 lead regularly?

[silent_jay]

The trades were a good start, they unloaded Blake's huge contract which is a great win for Burke, especially since no one thought he'd be able to unload it, and they got rid of Toskala who has just been a clusterfuck since he got to Toronto, hopefully JS will be able to find his old form, but that deal at least made them stronger in goal. I would have liked to see them get something for Blake, but I guess when his contract is huge and Toskala is a pylon you have to give up a bit more.

Phaneuf should help the defence if he can get over this hump he's been on in his development, he seems to have stalled, but he may have just got to used to Calgary. Now the Leafs have a big problem with salaries for the defence, almost half their cap is taken up on the point, Beauchemin, Komasarek, Kaberle, Schenn, and now Phaneuf, I reckon you'll see Kaberle traded before the deadline, probably for a goal scorer up front to make up for the loss of Hagman and Stajan's offence. Although I'd rather see Komasarek gone, they should have never picked him up, he's a big man, but he has no idea how to use his size and seems like a really weak man the way he get bullied around, also I've never seen someone so big be such a terrible fighter and hitter.

I'm going to miss White, he's easily been the Leafs best defenceman this season, and has probably been playing better than Phaneuf, he's a solid d-man for a guy who isn't the biggest player in the world, much like Blake, as much as I didn't like Blake for his lack of offence the guy had the heart of someone who is much bigger, Blake would always be the first in the corner and would never pussy out if he heard footsteps behind him.

As Burke said 'we're open for business', so hopefully a couple of more trades can at least turn the second half of the season around and get that pick the gave to Boston for Kessel out of the lottery.

This is why Campbell and Bettman are idiots, they seem to think Ken Dryden is a 'politician', which he obviously is, but he's also one of the greatest players to have played the game, and Campbell dismisses his opinion on the head shot debate?

Mind your own business, Campbell tells politicians

The consensus from an informal poll of NHL general managers, coaches, executives and players to the recent outcry from politicians and others about the league's need to deal with head shots can be summed up as, “Butt out. We take the issue seriously and we're working on it.”

“I don't comment on their business and I don't appreciate them commenting on ours,” NHL director of hockey operations Colin Campbell said yesterday. “We take our business seriously.

“The [Patrice] Cormier thing gets this going but it hasn't changed our focus or what we're going to do and how we're going to do it.”

Campbell was reacting to comments made by member of Parliament Ken Dryden, the former goaltender and Toronto Maple Leafs GM, and by Jim Flaherty, the federal Finance Minister.

Dryden said the NHL should declare all hits to the head as attempts to injure, which would mean more severe punishment on the ice.

Flaherty said the NHL needs to take the lead in legislating such hits out of the game because it has allowed a culture that accepts head shots.

Both Dryden and Flaherty, who said they were speaking as individuals and not as politicians, spoke out in the wake of Cormier's suspension for the rest of the season and the playoffs by the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League for a hit on Mikael Tam of the Quebec Remparts. Cormier and his team, the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, said the punishment was too harsh and plan to appeal.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said the league will crack down on head shots beginning next season.

The first step will come in early March when the league's general managers are expected to propose a rule change or tweak the present rules at their annual meetings in Florida. Any changes have to go through the NHL's competition committee and then be approved by the board of governors.

While the NHL people generally agree something needs to be done because the game is much faster now, which means more violent collisions, they argue that change needs to be done carefully because they do not want to take physical contact out of the game.

Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke said the struggle to reconcile safety with the crowd-pleasing aspects of a sport is a similar problem that is faced by groups like NASCAR.

“They could make NASCAR completely safe today,” he said. “They could put regulators on the cars so they couldn't go more than 55 miles per hour. But no one would watch.

“We could eliminate concussions in the NHL today. We could put football helmets on the players but we would have four quadriplegics by Christmas. Any item of equipment you put on players can become a weapon.

“So how do we keep that contact in but make the workplace as safe as we can?”

Burke says the critics have to accept the fact an NHL rink will never be completely safe.

He says players accept a certain amount of risk when they play the game.

However, Burke, once a hard-liner on the issue of contact, says he realizes action needs to be taken on hits where a player is not in a position to anticipate or avoid a hit.

Campbell said the league takes the issue seriously enough that it has changed its approach to the GMs' meetings. Usually, the 30 GMs are broken into smaller groups at the meetings and assigned a list of issues to study. This time, Campbell will form a break-out group, in advance of the meetings, of about eight general managers to study all forms of contact with the head and concussions. The group will make a report to the other GMs at the meetings.

The NHL's hockey operations department is currently assembling material for the break-out group such as videos of hits and information on equipment changes. Campbell said he expects to have the group formed no later than three weeks before the meetings, which begin March 8.

“This is a complex topic,” said Campbell, who argues that critics have not given enough credit to the NHL for its system of supplemental discipline for head shots, in which players can serve suspensions without pay. “One thing that is never mentioned is how much money players lose [in salary] when they are suspended.

“A guy like Ed Jovanovski lost as much as $200,000 [U.S.]. People say he makes a lot of money but that is still a lot of money. If [the GMs] want to increase the number of games [in suspensions], which is what the critics seem to want, then we will.”

Carolina Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford has long been an advocate for dealing with head shots and concussions. He said Dryden's suggestion of treating all hits to the head as attempts to injure is worth considering.

“I agree we don't have to change any rules if we define how an infraction is going to be called because we do have attempt-to-injure in the rule book,” Rutherford said. “You could use that call if a referee wanted, but I don't think they have been given that directive.”

Leafs head coach Ron Wilson argues that even though the NHL game is played with more speed than before, and there will be incidents, the players generally have more respect for each other than in other leagues. But he concedes that some changes are needed.

“I think we should allow some interference [on fore-checkers] to protect defencemen who go back to get the puck,” he said. “We're all a little bit at fault for that. I get angry at our forwards when they let a defenceman off the hook – you know, finish your check.

“But often you're in a grey area. When you are finishing your check, the opponent can turn the wrong way at the last second and it becomes an ugly hit. We have to be careful, though, because once you start regulating that sort of thing there would be no hitting in the game at all and I don't think the game would be much fun to watch.”

Personally I blame the lack of respect amongst players and the shittly and inconsistent suspensions given out by the NHL, like the Richards/Booth hit, the NHL needs some consistency in the disipline they give out, rather than using the wheel of punishment as they seem to be doing now.

[IdeoFunk]

I think Burke did a great job pulling out these trades for Toronto. At the cost of 6 average to less-than-average players they've added 2 all-stars and an awesome prospect to boot. Although with the loss of Stajan I'm not really sure how the Leafs will manage up front. They'll need to pick up someone quick, most likely at Kaberle's expense.

[silent_jay]

They've also got I think it is four and a half years younger as a whole as well, which was needed.

[Baraka_Guru]

Their first game in their Leafs jerseys and Giguere, Phaneuf, and Sjostrom all manage to pick up Hockey Night in Canada's Three Stars. Symbolic?

Regardless of the performance on their first night, this trading looks good to me.

I've been reading the Kaberle trade rationale, and it seems to make sense. I wonder who they could get for him.

[silent_jay]

I really don't want them to trade Kaberle, as he's easily better than Komisarek, who I think should be traded, he's a disappointment, at least to me for such a big man to be so weak on his skates, but he's hurt, or get the hell rid of Jeff Finger, what an awful defenceman he is, fuckin awful hockey player in general, no idea how he ever made it to the NHL, a scout must have been drunk, he's taking up like 3.5mil on the cap.

But trading Kaberle does make sense, they could easily get a first line center, and probably an early secound rounder as well, but who can they get, Kovalchuk, meh, don't really think he'd be a great fit, I'd like a Marleau to come to Toronto, he's a great playe and would fit right in, but doubt he's on the market, so in the end I don't know what will happen.

[Baraka_Guru]

Yeah, I think that Kaberle is on the block because they need a forward of value. You can't trade a shitty defenceman for a decent forward.

[silent_jay]

lol so true,but you can trade a shitty forward for a good forward, remember Kordic for Courtnall haha.

Kaberle's best move is to go to Burke with a liest of teams he'd be willing to go to, if he waits until summer he's at Burke's mercy and where he wants to send him, I'd still like to see Marleau come to Toronto.

[Baraka_Guru]

I can't believe Jiggy got back-to-back shutouts, especially against Ottawa (and especially 5 - 0).... a franchise first for debuting goaltenders.

[silent_jay]

He's playing great, hopefully Wilson keeps going with him, and what about Orr making Carkner all wobbly legged.

[silent_jay]

You happen to red this BG? Seems poor Vesa is bitter already.

Vesa can't wait to wash away `blue and white'

Former Leaf goaltender Vesa Toskala is already making waves on his new team, despite not yet having played for them.

Upon arriving via trade, Toskala's first move was to request the number 35 – the one worn by the most successful goalie in Anaheim Ducks history and the newest Leaf, Jean-Sebastien Giguere. He was refused.

"It didn't work out," Toskala told the Orange County Register. Both netminders wear the number 35. Giguere got Toskala's old number when he moved to Toronto. Toskala has been forced to switch to No.36.

Next, Toskala added a little parting shot. Though he has yet to receive a work visa for the U.S., and so can only practise, he does so wearing a Ducks jersey and a Maple Leaf mask.

Asked when his mask will get a new green-and-gold paint job, Toskala said, "Hopefully soon ... so I can wash that blue and white out of my gear."

Then, as if on script, Toskala began to moan about slotting in behind Anaheim's No. 1, Jonas Hiller.

"I don't think I'm a backup," Toskala said. "I'm not going to complain or anything. If it's my call, I would play every game because I love to play. When I play a lot, I play my best."

Bold addmed by me.

Now he's right he isn't a back up, he certainly wasn't a starter, and he isn't even good enough to be a back up, he should be back in Finland doing something, anything but playing hockey. As for playing his best when he plays a lot, yeah we saw how well that worked out in Toronto, the guy is a joke.

I do like how they basically fucked him off though from getting number 35, it's like 'you're a piece of drift Vesa, take what fuckin number we give you'. As for washing out the Blue and White, I'm sure Toronto wants to forget the Toskala clusterfuck as well.

[Leto]

haha... Ya I saw JS wearing the #35, and wondered what he thought of the history of Toskala wearing that in Toronto.

At least he plays with confidence, I can already see the improvement in the way the team plays in front of him. Or maybe it's the fact that the team is different too.

JS & Vesa should have just traded masks. Save a bit of effort in repainting...

[Baraka_Guru]

Well they said on that first night with the new players, the building was absolutely electric. It's the kind of thing the team needs. It'd be nice to see what a few more changes and a fresh new season will bring.

Oh, and they beat Ottawa 5 to 0. That's not supposed to happen. Not business as usual?

[silent_jay]

Yeah they are definitely playing with more confidence now that they have some good in nets. I mean it wasn't all Toskala's fault, but a team loses confiedence after busting their balls to get back into a game only to have an easy one cost them the game, which is someting Vesa did far too often.

[IdeoFunk]

YouTube - Jim Kyte vs Joey Kocur Nov 25, 1988

YouTube - Jim Kyte vs Joey Kocur Nov 25, 1988

...Quite possibly the craziest fight of all time, and I've seen some crazy stuff from oldschool hockey. I have no idea how Kyte got up from this.